When one starts to think of crime and mystery
conferences held anywhere in the world St Hilda’s Crime and Mystery Conference
would not be the first one that springs to mind.For most crime writers and fans (especially in North America)
Bouchercon, Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic and the late lamented Dead on
Deansgate to name a few are much more recognisable.However of all the crime fiction events that are held here in the
United Kingdom there is one, which has become an established part of the UK
crime fiction scene and one of the longest running events. It also happens to
have the most loyal attendees; it is St Hilda’s Crime and Mystery
Conference. Now in its eleventh year St
Hilda’s (as it is fondly and colloquially known) is held every year in August
amidst the splendour of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.One would be forgiven for thinking on arrival at the College that
they have magically found themselves in the countryside, as while the College
is set on grounds within walking distance from the Oxford town centre it is
tucked away in what is considered to be a corner of paradise so tranquil the
setting. St Hilda’s is situated on the
banks of Cherwell and boasts views across the spires of Merton and Magdalen Colleges. Unlike other crime fiction events that take
place St Hilda’s is uniquely different; while other conference normally have
multi-tracked panels all running together and in different rooms at St Hilda’s
this is not the case. St Hilda’s is
considered to be a much more serious and academic event and therefore anyone
that is invited to give a paper considers it to be not only an honour but
realise that they will certainly have an attentive audience in front of
them. Invited crime writers and other
speakers give papers and the tone is more of a lecture than having a panel of
writers solely talking about their writing.
If you are under the impression that St Hilda’s is there just for you to
talk about your work and books then you are wrong.Because of the way the conference was set up each year a theme is
chosen and those invited to talk give a paper based on the theme but with their
own individual slant to it.
So how did
St Hilda’s start? Or one should say what led to the first conference taking
place and how did that now lead into it now coming up to its twelfth year of
existence? The first ever conference
took place in 1994 and was the brainchild of Eileen Roberts who was and still
is the Alumni Officer for St Hilda’s College.
Eileen herself is a keen reader of crime fiction and part of her duties
as Alumni Officer is to arrange events for the College’s senior members and
thus in 1994 she decided that a weekend conference on crime fiction with the
emphasis on women writers, especially those with an Oxford connection would go
down well and it was felt that the conference would be of interest to quite a
few people.
The first
ever conference took place on the weekend of Friday 19th August to
Sunday 21st August 1994 and so far with one exception it has been
held on the same weekend ever since.
The conference started on the Friday afternoon with a reception at the
Bodleian Library at which the conference participants were able to view a
selection of mystery writers archives. The archives were that of Agatha
Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Edmund Crispin, and Raymond Chandler. This was followed by the conference dinner,
which was held at St Hilda’s where PD James was guest speaker. However since I
started attending in 1998 the conference has started with a reception on the
lawns of the College in the early evening followed by the conference
dinner. In 1994, the conference swung
into full mode on the Saturday morning where after an introduction by Mary
Moore a crime writer and also Principal of St Hilda’s between 1980 and 1990
there were discussions on the work of Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham and
Agatha Christie. This was befitting
since the theme for the inaugural conference was “The Queen’s of Crime”.
The first set of speakers at the conference included CWA Diamond Dagger
recipient Robert Barnard, Kathy Ackley and Matthew Prichard. Others that gave papers that weekend
included Lindsey Davis, the late Sarah Caudwell, Kate Charles, Margaret Yorke,
Sharyn McCrumb, Peter Lovesey, Veronica Stallwood and Hazel Holt. From the industry point of view there were
also papers by Literary Agent Lisanne Radice.
The conference ended on the Sunday with dramatised mystery/crime
readings.
Kate
Charles who was also one of the speakers at the conference has also been involved
from the beginning in organising the event.
Both Kate Charles and Eileen Roberts have known each other as a result
of their joint involvement in the Barbara Pym Society, which is also based at
St Hilda’s College. Together they have
been running the Barbara Pym Society for over ten years. With her knowledge of the speakers Kate
Charles acted as liaison since she knew most of them.Since then Kate Charles has been seen as the co-organiser of the
conference along with Eileen Roberts.
They are a formidable team in the nicest possible way.
So what was
the outcome of the first conference?
According to Kate Charles the response was over whelming. It was an incredible success even though
they only had around 25 participants.
Kate Charles goes on to state that on the Sunday people were strongly
expressing the view that they would like the event to take place again. In her discussions with Eileen she expressed
the view that another conference should take place the following year and that
if no one was willing to organise it then she would take it on herself. Since then Kate Charles and Eileen Roberts
have worked in tandem to organise the yearly conference. Eileen does all the ground arrangements for
example organising funds, bookings, and room assignments setting the various
menus for the weekend while Kate has responsibility for speaker liaison. To ensure that the conference is run
smoothly (and it is impressively run) the two of them meet several times a year
to discuss themes, speakers, and topics and to formulate the final
programme. It is a partnership that
works extremely well together.
The
following year 1995 the theme was “The Golden Age – There and Now”. The speakers that year included once again
Robert Barnard but this time he was joined by Val McDermid, Deborah Crombie,
Peter Walker, Catherine Aird, Rosemary Herbert, Janet Laurence, the late Sara
Ann Freed, Barbara Peters and Colin Dexter.
In 1996 the
theme was “The Historical Mystery”. Unlike in 1994 & 1995 the
conference started in the early afternoon with a talk. The conference dinner
that took place on the Friday night consisted of a traditional medieval fayre
in keeping with the theme of the weekend and as a tribute to the late Ellis
Peters who had sadly died the previous year. The conference speakers that year
included the great and the good of historical crime fiction writers. Amongst those who graced the event and spoke
were Deryn Lake, Edward Marston, Dean James, Elizabeth Eyre, Ian Morson, Peter
Tremayne, Molly Brown, the late Kate Ross, HRF Keating, Alanna Knight, Gillian
Linscott, Peter Lovesey, Amy Myers, Michael Pearce, Andrew Taylor, Laurie King
and June Thomson.
Murder in
Academia was the theme in 1997 and was befitting the fact
that the conference was being held in a University College. The speaker at the conference dinner that
year on the Friday was Val McDermid. Val McDermid has the benefit on knowing
the College very well indeed as she is also a senior member of the College
having graduated there in 1975. Some of
the speakers that year were already familiar faces but a number of new speakers
took part as well. These included
Michelle Spring, Margaret Kinsman, Anne Perry, Judith Cutler, Jill Paton Walsh,
Nora Kelly, Lev Raphael and Nancy Ellen Talburt.Like the previous year the conference started earlier than
normal, in fact there was a workshop running from 10:30am until late afternoon
on Making Crime Pay. This was followed by a welcome reception at the
Morse Exhibition. One of the highlights
of that weekend was Susan Moody in conversation with Colin Dexter author of the
Inspector Morse series.
My
introduction to St Hilda’s came in 1998 and was as a result of being persuaded
by Thalia Proctor (who at the time was running the bookstall at the conference)
and Lizzie Hayes (whom I help run Mystery Women).The theme in 1998 was Men (and Women) in Blue: The Police
Detective in Fiction. For me it was
like opening a big box of presents. It
was at St Hilda’s that I first made the acquaintance of some of my favourite
crime writers whom I had admired from afar such as Val McDermid, Andrew Taylor,
Michelle Spring and the delightful Dean James.
It was also at St Hilda’s that I was introduced to the delights of
DorothyL. Did I feel apprehensive, yes,
but that lasted only about an hour.
Why? Because everybody there made you feel very welcome and not left
out, it was if you were joining one big party.
I learnt two things that weekend about crime writers. Firstly drinking
with them is sheer fun but that in future I had better make sure that I don’t
have any alcohol at the run up to the conference and secondly they have a
wicked sense of humour and are amongst the nicest, most gregarious people one
would ever want to spend time with.
In 1998
Robert Barnard chaired the conference and on the first night after the
reception the conference dinner guest speaker was Dr Elizabeth Neville who was
at the time the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police Force. Some of the other
speakers over the weekend included Dorothy Simpson, Gwendoline Butler,
Priscilla Masters, Anthea Fraser, Joan Lock, M C Beaton, Stuart Pawson and Phil
Gormley (a real Inspector of Police).
While the main theme was Men (and Women) in Blue some of the
sub-topics looked at and discussed included Writing the Police Detective,
The Historical Police Detective, The Women Police Detective, The
Real Police Detective, The Regional Police Detective and Masters
of the Police Detective.
1999 saw
Val McDermid act as Chair at the event and the theme for the weekend was “Partners
in Crime”. Once again the speakers
were a mixture of old and new. Some of
the new speakers included Marcia Talley, Marjorie Eccles, Ann Granger, Joyce
Holms, Betty Rowlands and Natasha Cooper.
It might be wise to mention at this stage that a lot of the speakers
have also attended St Hilda’s as participants and continue to do so even if
they have not been invited to give a paper.
In 2000
once again Robert Barnard chaired the conference with the able assistance of
Marcia Talley. The theme was “Mind
Games, Psychology, Crime and Mystery”. As one has come to expect there was
a mixture of former and new speakers giving papers.Some of the new speakers included Aline Templeton, Laura Wilson,
Julia Wallis Martin and Lesley Grant-Adamson.
On the Friday the speaker was Joyce Holms.Even I had to admit this was one of the few times I have seen an
after dinner speaker have everybody literarily laughing so much that they are
crying and trying hard not to fall off their chairs.Putting it mildly as an after dinner speaker Joyce Holms is
something to behold. On the Saturday,
the dinner was not held at St Hilda’s but St Edmunds Hall. It was quite a sight seeing a large number
of guests walking into Oxford in all their finery towards St Edmunds Hall. But then again it just goes to add to the
uniqueness of the event. The titles of
the various papers that year were extensive and varied and ranged from “Game,
Set and Match” by Anne Perry, “ Mapping the Murderers Mind” by Val
McDermid, “Crime and Punishment” by Margaret Yorke to “Murder in
Mind: Psychopaths and Ordinary people” by Michelle Spring and “From
Social Work to Writing” by Alison Taylor.
The 2001
conference saw the emphases being placed on “The Scene of the Crime” and
that was the theme for the weekend.
Regular attendees at St Hilda’s are used to listening to diverse papers
that are not only in depth but thought provoking as well and 2001 was no
exception with papers from authors such as P D James, Andrew Taylor, Jessica
Mann, Peter Robinson and Val McDermid.
No one can attend St Hilda’s and feel that they have been
short-changed. Two of the highlights of
the weekend were Simon Brett presenting his golden age mystery spoof “A
Crime in Rhyme” and the punting competition organised by Gillian Linscott
on Sunday morning.
A lot of
people have heard of the saying “A Female of the species is more dead pan
than the male” and in 2002 the theme was a take on the saying “A Female
of the Species….”. With Natasha
Cooper once again doing the honours as Chair and papers from stalwarts such as
Val McDermid, Andrew Taylor, Marcia Talley, Gillian Linscott and Anne Perry
covering a wide array of viewpoints such as Mrs Pascal to Nancy Drew: Female
Sleuths in Popular Fiction, Set a Thief to Catch a Thief, Sisters
over the Centuries to an Unsuitable Job for a Man. There were also
interesting papers from newcomers such as Margaret Maron, Elizabeth Corley,
Clare Curzon and Carol Anne Davis whose paper on understanding the female
serial killer was as frightening as it was enlightening.
In 2003
Natasha Cooper made it three years in a row as chairman as she once again
chaired the conference on “Absent Friends and Future Loves”. It was an opportunity to look back at the
various authors and the different eras of crime writing that had gone bye and
what to look forward to. Simon Brett
started the weekend off with an insightful and witty talk on “The Detection
Club” while Robert Barnard spoke about Margery Allingham and Andrew Taylor
took on Josephine Tey. Over the course
of the weekend Michelle Spring gave a paper on Raymond Chandler entitled “Raymond
Chandler: The Man With the Smoking Gun”, Marcia Talley took a look at
American women mystery writers of the fifties and the sixties and Gillian
Linscott took on Edmund Crispin and Michael Innes. Edward Marston rounded the
Saturday off by talking about Ellis Peters’s Father Cadfael. The weekend also had Val McDermid and a
panel looking at “New Directions” within the genre. However I am sure that for many of us that
weekend was memorable not only for the excellent papers given by the various
authors which also included Jo Hines, Christine Poulson and Julia
Spencer-Fleming who spoke about G K Chesterton’s Father Brown but also Stephen
Booth’s witty and poetic paper on “Motive? What Motive” which had just
about everybody transfixed to their seats with enjoyment. For the first time in the history of the
conference, 2003 saw St Hilda’s being moved from its usual weekend to the first
weekend in September. Margaret Yorke
was the conference guest of honour.
For me, the
conference this year (2004) took on an added dimension. Why you may ask?In August 2004 I found myself (for only the second time in my
life) presenting a paper entitled “A Look at Cross-Breeding within Crime
Fiction” under the aegis of the main theme, which was “Crossing
Boundaries”. This year I was the
only new speaker. Tim Binyon who would
have been one as well had to pull out due to illness.Marcia Talley gallantly stepped into the breach and covered the
slot slated for him. The other speakers
over the weekend included Laura Wilson, Natasha Cooper, Danuta Reah, Michelle
Spring, Margaret Murphy Deborah Crombie, Keith Miles (Edward Marston) and
Leslie Forbes. I can only say that
being one of the first two speakers at the start of a conference is a sobering
thought and it does wonders for ensuring that you don’t have too much to drink
the night before or a late night.
It was also
very enlightening to see and be involved (to a very small degree) with the
conference from the other side. Despite
my nervousness I can honestly say that I had a marvellous time. The support and encouragement was
outstanding and I have never felt so contented to be standing up in a hall full
of people before. With the added
elegance and serenity of the Chair Andrew Taylor it turned out once again to be
in my opinion one of the most memorable conferences.
While some
may be put off by the fact that the conference is held in a woman’s college and
thus by default they believe or feel that men are not really welcome, this is
not the case. It is true that the
attendees are mainly female, but one of St Hilda’s most loyal attendees is
Richard Donnenberg who has attended every single conference since its
inception.
So how have
people come to hear about St Hilda’s Crime and Mystery Conference? The
responses have been varied. Andrew Taylor heard about it from “Red Herrings”
which is the official magazine for the Crime Writers Association of Great
Britain. Richard Donnenberg read about it in a specialist US crime magazine and
immediately rang the College and booked a place. Flyers and articles in
writer’s magazines have also brought it to people’s attention. Others only knew
about it when they were invited to give a paper or the after dinner speech. Marcia Talley heard about it from Kate
Charles when they met at a mystery conference in Washington DC. For the “old girls” they are more than
likely to have heard about it when they saw the leaflet about the first
conference in 1994 when it came along with the College newsletter.
What’s so
good about St Hilda’s and why does it stand out from the rest? Where does one start? Having spoken to numerous participants both
attendees and speakers the consensus appears to be the same. It is an extremely laidback conference with
no airs or graces. Everybody stays
together on the College grounds and everybody takes their meals together. You will never know whom your sitting next
to at the breakfast table or the dinner table or even in the Jacqueline du Pré
Music Hall where for some time now the papers have been presented and where
there are excellent acoustics. While everyone that attends does receive a name
badge you cannot really tell who is an author/speaker or attendee. The only way
in which those present are differentiated upon is to show whether or not they
are former students of the College.
There is no pretension.
There is
also ample free time on the Sunday morning to do what you want prior to the
Conference starting again at 11:00am.
Over the years attendees have done various things like attend a service
at St Cross Church where Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane got married, join a
Dorothy Sayers tour of Somerville and Balliol Colleges, sleep in trying to
recover from the late night festivities, go for a walk or huddle in the corner
in the Senior Common Room with the Sunday papers and more recently if you are
feeling energetic join the punting competition on the River Cherwell. Natasha Cooper who has not only acted as
chair on a number of occasions but has also presented papers states that she
keeps on coming back not solely because she presents papers but because of
amongst other things the quality of the speakers and the audience, the size
(normally the number of those attending is not much more than one hundred), the
affectionate atmosphere that builds up during the weekend between readers and
writers. Kathy Ackley a former academic
who now organises a yearly programme from across the pond called “British
Mystery and Crime Writers” was one of the very first speakers at the first
ever conference. Over the last couple of years St Hilda’s has been added to the
tour at the end of the programme and says that the reasons why she keeps on
coming back are similar to those already expressed by Natasha Cooper but also
include the interesting themes each year, the wine reception before dinner and
the gatherings after dinner. In short
its very friendly atmosphere and the positive experience that she has had over
the years. Other author participants
that I spoke to have been eager to corroborate this view and appear to be in
harmony as to the reasons why others keep on coming back time and time
again. They feel that the reasons are
the same as those already mentioned but can also be stretched to include the
chance to meet and talk with readers and other writers, the wonderful ambience,
the collegiality and the academic nature of the contributions.
Fantasy and
science fiction author Juliet E McKenna who is not only a regular attendee but
an “old girl” of St Hilda’s sums it up as follows when asked what keeps on
bringing her back to the conference – “ There’s the attraction of a
weekend’s intellectual stimulation that has nothing to do with work. There’s
sharing an enthusiasm with like-minded people and meeting new, friendly, like-minded
people”. She goes on to state that – “ As aworking wife and mother, there’s also the undeniable appeal of a
weekend with no cooking or other domestic responsibilities, just doing
something for me! I also come away each
year with a list of authors new to me
who I’m eager to read so now I actively look forward to that”. Crime Writer’s Association multi dagger award
winning author Andrew Taylor is a bit more forthcoming when he states his
reasons for coming back. While most of
them are similar to what has already been mentioned amongst other things for
him it is the opportunity to meet friends and the ability to talk about crime
fiction with knowledgeable people, the fact that speakers join the audience and
members of the audience sometimes become speakers.Most importantly everyone ends up sharing bottles in the Senior
Common Room as he exclaims – “truly democratic”.
Even
attendees whom are not authors have similar responses. They see the conference as being unique; it
is as it were the only show in town.
The fact that you don’t have to rush from panel to panel, the people,
the fact that it is small, intimate, interesting and thought provoking, a good
mixture of readers and writers and also there is the added reinforcement that
there are other people who think that it is normal to have several thousand
books. Lizzie Hayes’s neatly expresses
it when she says “elegance sums it up rather well, after attending St
Hilda’s I come home feeling refreshed and invigorated”. Richard Donnenberg who is one of the few
that has a complete record of attendance, like others is effusive in his praise
for St Hilda’s. For him what makes him
return year after year is not only the splendid setting (I mean who can resist
attending a conference amid the splendour and the spires of Oxford?) but also
the fact that speakers prepare and present papers and therefore really have
something to say that is new. While he
believes that the papers are not strictly academic they do show considerable
research and thinking, thus to him the level of presentations and discussions
are more scholarly than other conferences.
Kate
Charles the co-organiser also confirms St Hilda’s popularity. As far as she can tell it is not only
because it is small and intimate but because it has no commercial motivation
(as opposed to the now defunct Dead on Deansgate), it is prestigious for the
speakers as they are invited to speak by invitation only and the roll call of
authors both from the UK and elsewhere that have given papers over the years
show that they are well and truly good at their craft.
St Hilda’s has always been seen as a much more
serious conference because of its academic connections and that is one of the
things that attendees like about it.
Juliet McKenna believes that it is a credit to the crime fan community
that there’s enthusiasm for both approaches.
That said, she also goes on to explain that there are always plenty of
laughs at St Hilda’s along with the intellectual stimulation, certainly if
Simon Brett is performing. One thing
that she has also noticed is that while authors always take their subject
seriously they don’t take themselves too seriously. Juliet also points out that
she like the way that the “themed” approach takes the edge off more commercial
considerations so that authors don’t give any real impression of being there
under pressure to “sell” their books.
Richard Donnenberg also comments on this and his reasoning is that for
him what makes Bouchercon so attractive is the size and the opportunity to meet
so many authors, and the ability to select some interesting presentations or
panel discussions. However, he is also
quick to indicate that the most interesting talks are the scholarly ones and he
finds St Hilda’s full of them. In fact
it is the “serious academic” aspect of the conference that attracts him.
Kathy Ackley is delighted at academic aspect of the
conference. Nevertheless as a retired
academic she feels the conference is much less serious then any of the
conferences that she has attended in her field (English Literature). She also believes that it makes a difference
from the off the cuff talks that one gets at Bouchercon for instance. She thinks that there is something very
positive to be said for having to prepare a paper that you spend a good deal of
time thinking about and writing before appearing before an audience eager to
hear what you have to say on your topic.
It provides a depth , perhaps that other conferences might not have.
For Lizzie Hayes it boils down to the fact that she
is amazed at the different aspects of the themes explored by the speakers and
the incredible quality of the papers presented.Dean James manager of Houston’s Murder by the Book on the other
hand sums it up by stating that he finds it “refreshingly different. For one thing, you don’t get authors making
the same old “sales pitch” for their books.
With this approach there is time to consider topics more fully and in
greater depth than at the standard mystery convention panel”. Anne Perry
concurs and says that she loves the fact that it is considered to be “seriously
academic”. She goes on further to state
that the intelligent, non-competitive attitude helps and the papers given
contribute real insight, not just blowing one’s own trumpet. For Leslie Forbes
the opportunity to talk in-depth about deeper political, social and literary
aspects of crime writing is an added bonus.
So what
about its longevity? Richard Donnenberg
again states that “Right from the beginning St Hilda’s was not a commercial
conference. No big sponsors, no media
events, no expensive hotel and not the flavour of a mystery fair that you find
at some of the other conferences. The audience was there to learn more about
crime literature and at the end of the first conference it was found that
people had profited from the insights of the speakers and were willing to hear
more. This aspect of learning still
dominates the conference programming and keeps bringing attendees back”.
Dean James maintains that its longevity is due to – The astuteness of the organisers
in continuing to choose interesting themes and finding excellent speakers”. Sue Lord another long standing attendee
attributes its longevity due to the fact that it is different, the lovely
surroundings, it also feels like “home” and not only are the authors very
friendly but so are the “crowd”. Both
Marcia Talley and Anne Perry feel that its longevity is also due in part to the
social aspect that is clearly present all over the weekend. When you consistently hear comments like – it
is one of the most civilised ways to spend a weekend- beautiful surroundings,
charming people with great variety, and yet much in common, and the time to
indulge in conversation” then you know that you must be doing something
right. Andrew Taylor confirms the
social aspect as well. For him it’s
more like one big weekend party than anything else.He goes on to state “it lacks the them and us quality that
distinguishes so many conferences – fans on one side, and performing authors on
the others. A place of good conversation!” This is borne out by the fact that
invariably on the Friday and Saturday night people stay up late until the we
hours of the following morning in the Senior Common Room chatting away about
all things crime fiction and anything else that might come up.
Have there
been any sessions that have stood out over the years? Yes! Juliet E McKenna
particularly remembers the illustrated talk on Agatha Christie’s cover art, a
talk by the renowned agent Lisanne Radice and an editor of Pan Macmillan (as it
then was). There has also been a
whodunit one-act play by a group of undergraduates who were off to the
Edinburgh fringe, a reading of a Dorothy Sayers short story that had only been
previously heard on the radio in the 50’s and in which a young Peter Wimsey
consults an elderly Sherlock Holmes over a missing kitten.
So how does
the conference fit in with the college?
According to Kate Charles very well indeed.St Hilda’s College and the conference have had a very satisfying
and mutually advantageous relationship.
The current Principal, Lady Judith English is an avid crime reader and
very supportive of the conference. This year she attended many of the sessions
and next year (2005) hopes to bring her American book group over to
participate. I understand that when she
was being interviewed for the job a few years ago the fact that the College had
a crime and mystery weekend was one of the things that convinced her that it
was the right job for her. St Hilda’s also has a number of links not only with
crime writers but also writers of science fiction and fantasy novels. Some of their senior members (former
students) not only come back to attend the conference as participants but also
give papers such as Val McDermid, Marianne McDonald and Juliet E McKenzie. In fact, Margaret Yorke, who was Assistant
Librarian at St Hilda’s many years ago, came back in 1995 to give a talk on the
history of St Hilda’s Library.
Has it
turned out the way it was expected back in 1994? According to Kate Charles it
has. On being asked she states that –I
certainly never thought we would be looking towards the 12th annual
conference! Its popularity has increased along with its prestige in the crime
fiction world”.
Has it
changed over the years? Having only
been attending since 1998 I am reliably told that it has to a certain extent
but that the changes have been subtle and have made it all the better. Even so, it has not changed so much that it
is no longer what was envisaged in 1994.
Over the last couple of years a number of traditions have started to
take place. St Hilda’s has now become
the unofficial place where Mystery Women hold their annual meeting and
therefore their unofficial home, a regular punting competition now takes place
on a Sunday morning for those that are energetic enough to punt or paddle. Now on a Saturday night Mystery Women also
host a drinks party to which everyone attending the conference is invited.
Apropos that, is there anything attendees would like to see at St Hilda’s? One subject that appears to keep on cropping
up is that the writers that are present would love the opportunity to quiz a
panel of readers about their likes and dislikes!
So how are
the themes decided on year after year?
According to Kate Charles it is by taking soundings from speakers and
attendees over the weekend. The theme for 2005 came together at lunch on the
Saturday while she was brainstorming with Andrew Taylor and Marcia Talley.
The
overwhelming and outstanding view on St Hilda’s Crime and Mystery Conference is
long may it continue.
In 2005 the
conference is due to be held from Friday 19th August to Sunday 21st
August. The theme is “The Good, the
Bad and the Ugly”. Further
information about the conference can be obtained from Eileen Roberts, St
Hilda’s College, Oxford OX4 1DY, United Kingdomor by e-mail :- Eileen.Roberts@st-hildas.oxford.ac.uk
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